ADDRESS 



DELIVERED BY THE 



Hon. a. B. HUNT 



ON THE 



LIFE AND TIMES 



OF 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN 



AT THE 

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH 
OF ALAMEDA. 

SUNDAY EVE.. FEB. 12. 1899 

It being the 89th Anniversary of the 
BIRTH OF Abraham Lincoln 



6 



Lincolnlanl 






o< 



Address 

Mr. Hunt said: 

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, — if there 
is anything in this world that will inspire a man to 
make a magnificient speech, it is the subject this 
evening, and this grand audience that I see before me. 

I shall not endeavor to talk to 3-011 in a lauda- 
tory st3^1e. I am a little too old to commence that 
st3de of orator3', and if I were to attempt it, I am posi- 
tiveh' certain that I would make an absolute failure. 
I want to talk to 3'ou exactl3- as I think Abraham 
Lincoln would like to hear me talk if he were here. I 
want to talk to 3'Ou in a sensible, quiet, colloquial 
manner, and I want to tell you as many facts as I can. 

Abraham Lincoln's ancestors and his parents 
were the poorest of the poor. The3' belonged to a 
class in those da3^s called poor whites. The3' had no 
political recognition or distinction, and but ver3' little 
social position. 

After Mr. Lincoln had been nominated for 
President, a reporter from the Chicago Tribune went 
down to Springfield, and he said to Mv. Lincoln I think 
3'Ou had better give me the historv of 3^our earlv life, 
and I will write it up, and it will- make a good cam- 
paign document. Said Mr. Lincoln, ''There is not a 
thing in m3' ear^- life that would interest a single 
human being; there is nothing of it; it is all told in one 
line of Gray's Elegv, and that is 

'The short and simple annals of the poor.'" 



2 

Daniel Boone left the State of Virginia in the 
3'ear 1769, and went into what was known as the "far 
west", west of the Bine Ridge Mountains, and return- 
ed in a couple of years, and told fabulous stories of the 
wonderful country that he had visited. Eleven 3^ears 
later, in 1780, Abraham Lincoln, the grand-father of 
the President, emigrated with his family, consisting of 
his wife and five children — two daughters and three 
sons, with their neighbors across the mountains, and 
settled in what was known afterwards as Hardin Coun- 
ty, Kentuck}'. This was in 17S0. Four years later, 
in 1784, while Abraham Lincoln was at work in the 
field, he was shot dead by an Indian, who approached 
him unawares. The three sons he left were Mordecai, 
Josiali and Thomas, their ages being in the order 
named. Josiah had gone to a neighboring fort for 
assistance, and Mordecai ran to the log cabin and got 
a rifle, and from between the logs shot the Indian dead. 
Thomas, the father of the President, was then six years 
of age, and \ras standing by the body of his father 
when the Indian was killed. 

The family continued to reside in Hardin Coun- 
t\^ until 1S06, when 'I'homas Lincoln was married to 
Nanc}' Hanks. A daughter was born; then a sou, and 
the son's name was Abraham Lincoln, and were he 
alive to-day, he would be ninet}' years of age. They 
continued to live "in Kentucky until 1816, when 
Thomas Lincoln, with his family, removed to Indiana, 
to what was then known as Spencer County, at a place 
called Pigeon Creek, subseqnenth' called Gentr^-ville. 
There he lived for two vears, when the mother of 
Abraham Lincoln sickened and died. vShe was buried 



3 
out upon the hillside, and the next spring when a 
preacher came along from Kentucky, he preached her 
funeral sermon. 

A little more than one 3^ear later, Thomas 
Lincoln, the father of Abraham Lincoln, went back to 
the State of Kentucky and married Mrs. Sarah Johnson. 
She had three children, one son and two daughters. 
She was the widow of Daniel Johnson, who was the 
former jailer of Hardin County. They moved with 
her children to Spencer County, Indiana, where the 
daughter and son of Mr. Lincoln had remained. Here, 
it is due to her to say that Mrs. Lincoln, the step- 
mother, made a good mother to the children of Thomas 
Lincoln. She lived to a good old age. She lived to 
see her step-son the President of the United States. 
She died on the loth day of April, 1869. Abraham 
Lincoln's father, Thomas Lincoln, lived to be past 70 
years of age, and he died in Illinois in Cole County on 
the 17th day of January, 185 1. 

The early school days of Abraham Lincoln were 
few. He went to school a while in Kentucky, and he 
probably learned to read. This schooling and what 
he received in the State of Indiana was all the school- 
ing he ever liad. Probably one year would cover his 
entire school da3\s. At school in Indiana- he studied 
Pike's Arithmetic, Murr3''s Grammar and Webster's 
Spelling Book, and very early developed a precocity for 
reading. He read everything in sight. In those daj'S 
it did not take long to read everything. It is asserted 
that he read the Bil)lc, Easop's Fables, and Robinson 
Crusoe, and what bo^- did not read Robinson Crusoe? 
He read the Life of Washington, and the History of 



4 
the United States, and the first law book he ever read 
was the Statutes of Indiana. 

At eleven years of age he commenced to grow 
ph3-sicall3' at a rapid and astonishing rate, and when 
he was i6 j^ears of age he shot right up, and before he 
w^as 17 3'ears of age, his height was 6 feet 2 inches. 

The people about Gentrj-ville w^here the Lincolns 
lived were a good natured, prosperous class of settlers. 
It is said that the whole count}' M-ould turn out to a 
log rolling, to attend church, or to a social dance. It 
ma}^ astonish 3'ou a little, but I will have to tell 3'ou 
that in those da3'S when the3' attended those social 
gatherings in that countr3', the ladies all took their 
wdiisky toddies, but the men went them one better, 
the3' took their whisk3^ straight. They w^ere brim fulb 
running over with superstition, and it would not have 
been health3' for a man to have lived in that couiitr}' 
in those da3^s, and in this regard to have disagreed 
wath the other settlers. The}- thought that the flight 
of a bird in at a window, or the crossing of a hunter's 
path bv a dog, or tlie breath of a horse upon a child's 
head, to be a token of bad luck to somebodv, and to 
commence a work on Friday was to be followed with 
certain and sure disaster. I'ence rails could only be 
split bv the light of the moon, and ]:)()tatocs ])lanlcd 
bv the full of the moon, and as I sav, the whole 
couutrv was submerged in superstition. 

The point I want to make right here, is that 
this state of things so impressed itself u})on the mind 
f)f 3'oung Lincoln that it never left him. It iollowed 
him to the grave. It shows von how lasting the earlv 
impressions are upon ihc vouug. It was said b}- his 



5 
law partner, "Sir. Herndou, that on the da}- Lincoln left 
Springfield, in talking over their business, on the eve 
of going to Washington, he said to Mr. Herndon, "I 
shall never return to Springfield; that is fixed upon niv 
mind," and for years before his death he believed that 
he would die a tragic death. Mr. Wells, the Secretary 
of the Nav\% and a member of Mr. Lincoln's cabinet, 
is authorit}^ for the statement, that on the afternoon 
before his assassination, when the last meeting of the 
cabinet was held, and as thc}^ were about to separate 
Mr. Lincoln said ''We are going to hear verv shorth' 
of some great national event." He did not speak it in 
a manner as though it referred to himself, but only as 
an impression that was fixed upon his mind, and when 
he was asked why he so thought, he said "I had a 
dream last night, and I have dreamed that same dream 
before every great battle of the war," and they asked 
him what it was, and he said ''I dreamt I was aboard a 
ship and moving with great rapidity towards a dark 
and indefinable shore." 

In 1830 Air. Lincoln was 21 vears of age, on 
the 1 2th day of February, and on the ist of March, 
following, the famil}- — the daughter, vSarali Lincoln, 
having died a few years previous — consisting of 
Thomas Lincoln, the father, the step-mother, her son 
and two daughters and their families, started from Gen- 
tryville in Spencer County, to go further west. The 
father of Abraham Lincoln was in debt, his lands were 
mortgaged, and he had to go; the\' loaded their house- 
hold goods into a lumber wagon, got into the wagon, 
hitched two voke of oxen to it, and Abraham Lincoln 
drove the oxen" until they got to Illinois, and there 



6 

the}' settled, Abraham Lincoln clcarino np the gronnd 
with Dennis Hanks, one of their relations, and there 
he and Dennis Hanks split three thonsand fence rails. 
Thomas Lincoln set to work resolntel}', and bnilt him 
a log cabin, and there the famil\- started to live. 

Two 3'ears later Abraham Lincoln enlisted in 
the Black Hawk War. There was no particular idea 
of patriotism about that. He never contended that 
there was. He went to the War, and the boys elected 
him Captain of his company, and he and the company 
served the time of their enlistment and then most of 
the compau}' went home. Lincoln being out of a job, 
re-enlisted and sta3'ed a little while longer. Then he 
went back to Sangamon County, and there he settled 
in what was called New Salem, on Sangamon River. 
It was a prosperous village, and there was some navi- 
gation on the river, and the first afternoon he arrived 
there he was chosen Clerk of an Election Board, and 
before night he captured the whole town by telling- 
Indiana varus. There was a man there by the name 
of Denton Offut, and he run a steamboat cm the river, 
and he eot Lincoln to cro down on his flat boat to New 
Orleans, and he went down and came back. 

I will have to tell you a little incident right 
here, because it illustrates the character of Lincolu, as 
well as anvthiug. It is said th.at when Mr. Lincoln 
got mad, which he very seldom did, thai he was mad 
all over, and people had to look out and get out of 
the way. There was a settlement called Clary's Grove, 
souie. fi\e or six miles from New Salem. There was 
a rough crowd wyi there and they used to go down to 
New vSalem, and in the language of those days, clean 



7 
out the town, and woe to the store-keeper or grocer}-- 
man and his little shanty, if it was their idea to attack 
it. Denton Offut said a fellow by the name of Arm- 
strong, who rilled that part of the country in that sec- 
tion was not as good as Abraham Lincoln, and the 
Clary's Grove crowd heard of it and a wrestling match 
was arranged between Armstrong and Lincoln, and the 
settlers bet their coon skins upon one or the other. It 
was about an even thing when they were wrestling, 
but Abraham Lincoln thought he detected an unfair 
advantage being taken by Armstrong, and he took him 
by the nape of the neck with his long arms, and shook 
him verv much the way that a black-and-tan terrier 
would shake a rat if he got mad at him. Abraham 
Lincoln from that time was the hero of the bo3'S, and 
the hero of the town. Years rolled on, and the Arm- 
strong familv was a friend of Mr. Lincoln from the 
da}^ of the wrestling match to the day of his death. 
Years afterwards, one of the Armstrong boys was ar- 
rested for murder, and thev went to Lincoln, and want- 
ed him to defend him, and he did defend him, and he 
cleared him, and I will tell vou a little thing here — it 
shows the ingenuity and keenness of Mr. Lincoln. A 
witness swore that he saw the fatal blow struck in the 
night time in a full moon, and that he could not be 
mistaken. Air. Lincoln pressed him, question after 
question, and made him state this fact a great number 
of times, then ]\Ir. Lincoln drew an old almanac out, 
and asked him what time the moon set that night; the 
witness was confounded because the almanac showed 
that the moon had been down two hours, and was set 
when he swore that the defendant struck the fatal blow 



8 

and committed the murder. 

The first political office that Mr. Lincoln lield 
was that of Post Master. President Jackson appointed 
him Post Master of New Salem, and it is said that he 
used to carry the post office around in his hat. It was 
the onl}' post office they had in those days. Somebody 
persuaded him to stud}- surveying, and he concluded 
he would, and he studied it, and became a good sur- 
veyor, and became deputy County Surveyor of San- 
gamon Count}', and when he would go on a surveying- 
trip, he would take letters to the people in the country. 

In 1S32 he was a candidate for the Legislature, 
and was beaten, and in ICS34 he was again a candidate, 
and was elected from New Salem. He did not cut any 
figure in that Legislature. He sat quietl}' and listened 
to what was done; in other words, he took in the situa- 
tion. He returned home, and the next two years, 1836, 
he was re-elected to the Legi'=;lature. And right here, 
I want to tell you, in my judgement it marked a start- 
ing point in the life of Abraham Lincoln, iind I will 
tell you why. In that Legislature there were 9 mem- 
bers from Sangamon County. There were 2 senators 
and 7 asseml)lvmen. One of the senators was John 
'l\ Stewart, afterwards a member of Congress. Mr. 
Lincoln studied law at times, and lie would walk 
from New Salem a do/en or fifteen miles to Spring- 
field, and get a law l)()ok of j\lr. Stewart, and walk 
l)ack again, to study law the best he could. 
Stewart took a liking to him, and afterwards tcok liim 
in as a partner. 

Now, then, for the Legislature of 1836. There 
were the nine members from vSangamon Countw Thcv 



9 
were known as the long nine, becanse there was not a 
man of them that was less than 6 feet in height, and 
the average weight was more than two hnndred ponnds, 
and they jnst carried that Legislatnre by storm. An^'- 
thing the}' wanted done, was done. Abraham Lincoln 
was the chief of them all. They looked np to him. 
The}^ recognized him as snch. It was said b}' those who 
talked abont legislatnres sometimes in those days, that 
Abraham Lincoln was the cunningest member, and 
had the longest head in that Legislatnre. The ^^Ji^g 
nine were capable of doing anything. The}- wanted 
to move the capitol, and they conclnded they wonld 
take it to Springfield. IHoomington wanted it, and 
half a dozen other towns concluded thev wonld have it, 
and twice the bill was laid on the table, and defeated. 
However, the Legislature, on the da}- before it ad- 
journed, took up the bill, and it was passed, removing 
the capitol of Illinois from the village or city of Yan- 
dalia to Springfield, and there it remains to-day. 

Right here I want to tell you, and I will read 
to yon, but I shall not read much, that in those days to 
be called an anti-slavery- man was about the same as 
b^ing called in that country a petty larceny thief. 
Some pro-slavery resolutions were adopted by the Leg- 
islature. They were snch as you might imagine they 
would be, and the day before the Legislature adjourned 
Abraham Lincoln concluded, he not having voted on 
those resolutions, that he would file a protest and that 
it should go on record in the assembly. He tried to 
get the long nine to back him up, but they would not, 
and that was the long and short of it. There was one 
man however of the long nine who did, and he was 



lO 

Dan Stone, one of the members from Springfield. I 
have got a cop}- of that protest here, and I am going 
to read it to vou. Remember this was placed npon 
the records of the General Assembly of Illinois on the . 
3rd day of March, 1837, and I now read it — 

Protest of Lincoln and Stone. 

"Resolutions upon the subject of domestic 
slavery having passed both branches of the General 
Assembly' at its present session, the undersigned 
hereby' protest against the passage of the same." 

The}' believe that the institution of slavery 
was founded on both injustice and bad policy, but 
that the promulgation of abolition doctrines tends 
rather to increase than abate its evils. 

They believe that the Congress of the 
United States has no power under the Constitution 
to interfere with the institution of slavery in the 
different States. 

They believe that the Congress of the 
United States has the power under the Constitution 
to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, but 
that the power ought not to be exercised unless at 
the request of the people of the District. 

The difference between ^lese opinions and 
those contained in the above resolutions is their 
reason for entering this protest. 

Dan. Stone. 
A. Lincoln. 

Representatives from the county of vSangamon. 

I tell yon that it is a sign-board — a gnide board 
in the life of Mr. Lincoln. Tlie Legislatnre adjotirned 
on the next day, which was the 4th day of March, 
1837, and twenty-fonr years from that day Abraham 



II 
Lincoln was inaugurated President of the United 
States of America. When I was a boy — that was some 
time ago, I lived in New York State, and there was 
what we called the main road. My mother's farm was 
on that road. There were cross-roads about every 
three-quarters of a mile crossing the main road at 
right angles, and there w^as one farm between my 
mother's farm and the corner. On the corner where 
the cross-road intersected the main road stood a guide 
board and it said "28 miles to Jamestown." I used to 
wonder if I would ever go to Jamestown. Well, I 
never did, but at one time I went by there some thirt}- 
or forty miles distant. Do yen know what was on 
those resolutions at the time they were filed in the 
General Assembly, but no one saw it? I can imagine 
what was then written between those lines by the hand 
uf destinv. It was "24 years to the White House and 
Abraham Lincoln President of the United States 
of America." 

Mr. Lincoln, when the Legislature was over, 
went back to New vSalem. He studied law, and Mr. 
Stewart said he would take him in and make him a 
partner, and so he went down to Springfield to see if 
he could get a place to live. He went into the store of 
Joshua F. Speed, an enterprising young merchant, who 
was there from Kentucky, and he asked Speed what it 
would cost to fit up a room for him to live in, and 
Speed figured it up, and he made it out $17. Well, 
said Mr. Lincoln, ''as little as that is, I have not the 
money to pay it; if you will trust me till Christmas, 
and I make a go of the law business here, I will pay 
3'ou, and if I do uot, you probably never will get your 



12 

pay in this world." Why, Speed looked up at him, 
and he said that he never saw so melanchol}- a look 
upon the face of a man in his life as Lincoln then had. 
It seemed as though he felt as if he did not have a 
friend on earth. Speed said '']Mr. Lincoln, you need 
not bother about that; if you will occupy the room I 
have got up stairs with me. there is a good big bed in 
it, and it is a good large room, and it shall not cost you 
a cent." Lincoln asked *^'How do 3'ou get up there?" 
Speed said '^Go up those stairs." So, Abe started up 
with a few clothes in his satchel, and a law book or 
two, and ver}- soon he came down with as good natured 
and as beaming a face as nortal man ever had, and he 
said, ''Well, Speed, Tve moved." Well, he had 
moved. There was a man by the name of William 
Butler, a man of wealth, and he had taken great inter- 
est in the removal of the capitol from Vandalia to* 
Springfield^ and he offered to board Mr. Lincoln, and 
he lived there with Butler for years, and his biographer 
says the idea of compensation never entered the head 
of Butler. 

Lincoln was then full fledged in the law, and 
around about Springfield at that time there were a lot 
of \'oung men, the like of which has never been seen 
in the United States since that day. There was a 
crowd of practicing attorneys in and around Spring- 
field then unknown to fame who afterward became dis- 
tinguished, and whose lives became a part of this great 
nation. There was' Abraham Lincoln, the President of 
the United States. There was Stephen A. Douglas^ 
a candidate for the presidency of the United States^ 
and he received, when Mr. Lincoln was elected, the 



13 
next highest vote, and was for man}- j^ears a United 
States Senator. There was O. H, Browning, many 
years afterwards a United States Senator. There was 
John A. McDougall, who became Attorne\' General of 
the State of Illinois, and subsequently a United States 
Senator from the State of California. There was Ed- 
ward D. Baker, afterwards a member of Congress from 
Illinois, and a United States Senator from Oregon, 
and was killed while a Colonel in the Civil \\'ar, at 
Ball's Bluff. There was Iv3'man Trumbull, i8 years a 
United States Senator from the State of Illinois. There 
was James Shields, a United States Senator from tlie 
State of Illinois. There was David Davis, appointed 
by President Lincoln to a seat upon the Supreme 
Bench of the United States, and subsequenth^ chosen a 
United States Senator from Illinois. And I might 
name many more of them that were then in and about 
Springfield. 

They used to hold their debates, and it was 
generallv iu Speed's store, and they got into a wrangle 
there one night, and Stephen A. Douglas, magnetic 
and feiocious jumped up and says ''this is no place to 
talk politics; we will talk it out in the Presbyterian 
Church." It was a bluff you know. Abe Lincoln 
said "we will discuss it," and the}- started right in, 
and it was decided who should talk first, and Lincoln 
was tlie last one to talk on his side, and they were a 
week at it, and when they got through Lincoln had 
the biggest audience of them all, and the}' printed his 
speech in the Springfield Journal. 

I have got to hurr}'. There is a great deal to 
be said. This was in 1836 and 1837. ^^^ ^^3^ ^^'^'- 



14 
Lincoln was again returned to the Legislature — this 
time from Springfield, and again in 1840 he was re- 
turned from Springfield, making four times. In the 
Legislature of 1S38 Air. Lincoln was the unanimous 
choice of his party for Speaker of the Assembl}-, and 
received all of their votes. Of course he was beaten 
by a few votes. The Democrats were in the majorit}'. 
The same thing occured in 1840. This shows you that 
Mr. Lincoln's mind and power and influence were 
spreading themselves out from the little villages of 
New Salem and Springfield and permeating the great 
State of Illinois, and I must tell you one thiug right 
here before I forget it, because it is so good. It 
occurred in 1S36 before Mr. Lincoln had moved down 
to Springfield. He was there discussing politics, and 
they used to get very angrj^ in those discussions and 
debates, and sometimes while the speaker from the 
rostiiim was arguing politics to the extent of his voice,, 
the crowd on the outside was arguing the same thing 
to the extent of their fists. At a great big meeting in 
Springfield — Mr. Lincoln had not got down there to> 
live — the}' did not know him ver\' much then — every 
body had their talk, and Abe Lincoln came last, and. 
had his talk, and there was a man there by the name 
of George Forquer. He was a law^-er, a brilliant sort 
of a man,, a prett}' good fellow, but unfortunately,, 
Forquer had just changed his politics from a Whig,, 
which he had been nearly all the da3''S ot his life, which 
is now nearly synon\"mous \vith Republican, to a Dem- 
ocrat, and after his conversion to demccrac}-, the Presi- 
dent I am sorry to tell you appointed him Register of 
the United vStates Land Office at a salary of $3000 a 



15 
year. He had to support the power that appointed 
him, whether he thought it was right or wrong, and he 
started in to do it. So, after Abe had got down from 
the rostrum, Forquer climbed up, and he did go for 
Lincoln good. He said in substance he was sorr}' it 
devolved upon him to take that 3'oung man down, but 
it had to be done, and he would give him a talk and a 
lesson that he would remember the balance of his life. 
It was not so much what Forc[uer said 3^ou know, but 
it was the manner in which he said it — the supercili- 
ous, overbearing wav and air that Forquer talked about 
Abe Lincoln, raised the ver^^ hair from Abe's head, 
and a fellow near b}' watched him, and he said Mr. 
Lincoln was laboring under intense excitement. It 
just wrought him up, and I will show 3'ou further on, 
that when Mr, Lincoln got mad, woe to the man who 
stood in his wa\\ He w^ould shake' him a great deal 
worse than he did Armstrong. Well, when Forquer 
closed Lincoln climbed up on the platform, and he com- 
menced to talk to the crowd. I must tell 3'ou a little 
incident before I tell vou what he said. Forquer had 
built the prettiest little cottage in Springfield, and had 
painted it all nice, and erected a lightning rod on 
top of it. You can imagine what the people around 
Springfield and around Gentr^-ville thought of a light- 
ning rod. The\^ did not understand the philosophy of 
it, and did not know what it ment, but they had got 
the idea that a man who would put a lightning rod on 
his house was running counter to the Alniight}^ and if 
the Almightv was going to hit him, which he might, 
there ought to be some wa^^ to stand the Almight}' off. 
After Forquer had closed Lincoln got up, and said 



i6 
"What Mr. Forqiier says is true. I have j^ot nothing. 
I never had any edncation, I never had any learning; 
my people were poor," bnt he said ''we tried t« live an 
honest life; we have tried to do what was right; we 
intend to stand b}- our political principles, and onr 
political doctrines, and I want to tell yen right here 
that I will die in my tracks before I will change my poli- 
tics from a Whig to a Democrat to get appointed to an 
office that is worth $3000 a year, and then be compelled 
to erect a lightning rod over my house to screen a 
guilty conscious from the vengence of an offended 
God." You people who have attended a political 
meeting, and know how they cut up, will understand 
the noise they made — they howled and hooted and 
yelled, and Forquer got up and left, and he never for- 
got the scorching 3'oung Lincoln gave him. It was 
the talk of the town for years after, the skinning Lin- 
coln gave Forquer. 

Right here I will read to you a brief of Mr. 
Lincoln in a law case, although it did not happen 
until years afterwards. When Lincoln was practicing 
in Springfield, there came into his office one day an old 
decrepit woman, and she had no money — she had 
nothing, and her husband had been a soldier in the 
Revolutionary War, and an attorney in vSpiingfield 
had collected $400 as pension money, and wanted to 
keep one-half of it for his fee, and it worked on Lin- 
coln pretty well, and he said ''I am going o\er and 
demand that money, and if he don't give it up I will 
skin him." He did not give up the money, and they 
brought the suit. They put the old woman on the 
stand, and of course she had to cry. She would not 



17 
have been worth a thing as a client if she had not cried. 
Lincoln cried a little, and got the jiu"y to cry, and thej^ 
brought in a verdict giving her the whole $400. iVnd 
now I want to read you that brief, because there ma}' 
be some la\v3'ers here who will be interested in it. 
The night before the case was tried Mr. Lincoln 
wanted Herndon to get him a history' of the Revolu- 
tionary War. He wanted to get full of it so he could 
talk it next dav to the jur^-. Here it is. It is a skel- 
eton brief. There is no meat to it, it is just skin and 
bones. It reads as follows: — 

"No contract — No professional services — 
unreasonal)le charge — money retained by defend- 
ant — not given by plaintiff — Revolutionary War 
— Describe \"alley Forge privations — Ice — soldiers 
bleeding feet — plaintiff's husband — soldiers leav- 
ing home for Army — skin Defendant — close." 

If ever there was a man that did get sorel}' tried 
it was ]\Ir. Wright the defendant on that occasion, for 
said judge Davis who tried the case "Mr. Lincoln was 
fearful in his denunciation, and there was no rule of 
Court to restrain him." 

Mr. Lincoln was finallv elected to Congress. 
He took his seat in Congress on the 7th day of 
December, 1847. ^'^ ^^"^^'^ Congress were man}- men 
who afterwards became distinguished in the history of 
this country. There was Andrew Johnson who was 
afterwards \"ice-President and succeeded Mr. Lincoln 
as President of the United States. There was the 
venerable John Quinc}' Adams who had been President 
of the United States. There was Geo. Ashmann who 
was Chairman of the Convention that nominated Mr. 



i8 
Lincoln in Chicago, There was Alexander H. Stevens, 
who was snbseqnentl}' the Vice-President of the 
Southern Confederacy'. There was Howell Cobb and 
Robert Tombs, and I could name over a great many 
men whose lives afterwards l^ecame a part of the 
history of this great nation. Lincoln at the close of 
that Congress went back to Illinois, and he had been 
oppo.sed to the Mexican War, and consequenth' as a 
matter of course he was unpopular, and did not seek a 
re-nomination. He returned to Springfield and con- 
tinued the practice of the law. 

There are two law cases to which I will 3'oiir 
attention to, and then we will pass on. Mr. Lincoln 
and Mr. Herndon were partners, and they were 
employed by the Illinois Central Railroad Company, a 
great corporation. The Count}' of IVlcLean had 
brought action against the Company to recover taxes, 
and Lincoln and Herndon were employed, and they 
were sent a retaining fee of $250, and they won the case 
in the lower Court, and it was carried to the Supreme 
Court of the State, and they won it there. Mr. Lin- 
coln went down to Chicago and presented a bill of 
$2000 in addition to the $250 received as a retainer for 
their services. "Why," said the Superintendent of the 
road, ""that would have employed Daniel Webster in a 
law suit." and they would not pay it. Abe Lincoln 
felt hurt — he felt bad. He turned around, and left 
the office. He started for Springfield. He got down 
as far as Bloomington, and he met O. H. Browning, 
and some of the other great lawyers of Illinois, and he 
told them about it, and they said to Mr. Lincoln, ''That 
is a shame; yoii sue that compau}^ for $5000, and we 



^9 
will stand by you, and we will see that 3-011 get the 
money 3-ou have earned." Mr. Lincoln sued the rail- 
road compan}'. The compan}- never came into Court 
to fight it. A default judgment was obtained, and it 
was proven b}^ six attorne3's that the fee was a reason- 
able one, and a check was drawn, and it was paid. 
Would 3'ou like to know who the Superintendent of 
that railroad was? It was George B. McClellan, whom 
Abraham Lincoln afterwards appointed Commandei in 
Chief of the Armv of the United States. 

There was another case in which ^Ir. Lincoln 
was interested, and it was this: j\Ir. ]\IcCormack hi.L 
brought an action against a man on a patent right. 
Mr. Lincoln was emplo3-ed, and a man b3- the name of 
Herrin from Penns3-lvania was emplo3'ed to make the 
mechanical part of the argument. Lincoln prepared 
himself with great care. He was to meet Air. Reverd3' 
Johnson, the greatest law3-er in the United States then 
upon patent cases. He went down to Cincinnati 
expecting to make that argument, and whom did he 
iind there? Somebod3- had scared Lincoln's client, and 
he had gone and emplo3-ed Mr. Stanton, whom I will 
tell vou of in a few minutes. Stanton was one of 
fellows who would ride right over ever3' thing and ever3'- 
bod3^, and nothing could stand in his wa3'. Lincoln was 
a man from the west — tall, lean and lank — in the sum- 
mer time with a great long coat coming almost to his 
feet, and perspiring so that 3-ou could trace something 
like a map of the United States on his back, and the3' 
put it up between Stanton and Herrin not to allow 
Lincoln to speak, although Mr. Lincoln was entitled to 
make the argument b3' reason of his first emplo3'ment 



20 

in the case, and Herrin saj'S, "Who is going- to make 
the argnmeiit in this case?" and Mr. Lincoln who was 
always diffident said, "I expect Mr. Stanton will make 
it," expecting of conrse that Mr. Stanton would sa\\ 
"Mr. Lincoln, 3'on are the senior counsel iu the case, 
and 3-0U make the argument;" but instautly Stanton 
said,, "All right, I will make the speech." Lincoln 
thought that was pretty rough, and he did not take 
much interest in the case after that. It was his first 
visit to Cincinnati, and he stayed aronnd and did not 
make many acquaintances, and went home, and when 
he got home, he said to Herndon, "I was never treated 
so bad in ni}- life as I was b}' that man Stanton. '"" 
That w^as in 1857. In less than seven 3^ears from that 
time Mr. Lincoln was President of the United States,, 
and he appointed Edwin M. Stanton as his Secretary 
of War, and he did make a grand Secretar}- of War. 

Will 3"ou tell me that Lincoln did not manifest 
in these things the elements of a great mind? Ls it 
an}' wonder he said in his inaiigural address, "With 
malice towards none, and charity to all'" — well, let us 
get back to Illinois. 

In 1S54 the Kansas and Nebraska IHll was 
passed. Mr. Lincoln had become known throughout 
the State. He was again elected to the Legislature — 
the Legislature of 1854-5. Before that Legislature he 
was a candidate for United States Senator, and when 
the Legislature met the Republicans were within five- 
votes of electing him and at Lincoln's request thev 
voted for L3'man Trumbull. The five votes were Anti- 
Nebraska Democrats; Trumbull had previously been a 
Democrat, and on the third ballot when it became 



21 
apparent that these five men would go over and elect 
Whitesides, a rank Democrat, to the Senate of the 
United States, Abraham Lincoln begged of his friends 
who were supporting him to leave him and vote for 
Trumbull. Stephen A. Logan, then a member of that 
Legislature, a great lawyer in Illinois, begged of Lin- 
coln to withdraw his declination, and take one more 
ballot. "No," says Lincoln "you are sure of Trumbull, 
I might be defeated; vote for Trumbull," and the}^ 
voted for him, and he was elected and represented the 
State of Illinois in the United States Senate for iS 
vears. That was in 1855. 

Now, great events came crowding upon the 
nation. They came crowding upon ]\Ir. Lincoln. The 
Republican Convention met in the City of Blooming- 
ton on the tfth day of ^a;3i^i85K^ All the. great men 
of the party were there. William H. Bissell, who had 
ridden at the head of the Second Illinois Regiment at 
the Battle of Buena \"ista, was their candidate for 
Governor, and was nominated and elected. Norman 
B. Judd was there. Leonard Swett was there. Lyman 
Trumbull was there, and it was understood that when 
the Convention was over that Mr. Lincoln was to make 
a speech. He was called on, and came forward, and 
that speech never was reported. The reporter who 
commenced to take it down, and who had often taken 
Mr. Lincoln's speeches, wrote for five minutes or ten, 
and then threw down his pen, and said that he could 
not follow him. It was said by one who heard that 
speech that if Abe Lincoln was six feet four inches in 
height, that on that occasion he was seven feet tall. 
His whole soul was in it. 



22 

In 1858 Stephen A. Douglas returned from 
Washington. He was the logical candidate of the 
Democrats for re-election to the United States Senate. 
He was heraled all over the state, and he was the re- 
cognized candidate of the democracy for United States 
Senator. Intuitivel}-, the great body of Republicans 
of that grand prairie state tiirned to Mr. Lincoln, ask- 
ing him to be their candidate, and on the 17th day of 
June, 1858, at their convention in Bloomington, the}- 
passed a resolution which said this: "That Abraham 
Lincoln is our first and only choice for United States 
Senator." Mr. Lincoln of course, knowing what 
was coming — understanding it — had prepared a 
speech for that occasion. He had made the minutes 
of his sj>eech in skeleton, and he invited twelve 
of his friends to pass their judgment upon it. They 
were the leading men of the State. It was a. 
momentous question. It was a great issue, and it 
was necessary that Mr. Lincoln should place him- 
self U|X)n record in a right manner. He read the 
minutes of his intended speech, and what do you 
think they said? One said that speech is out of time; 
said another, it don't go; said another, you make that 
speech Mr. Lincoln, and 3^ou are beaten; said another 
— I cannot tell you what he said, but he said it is a 
fool of a speech, and right before the word "^fool" he 
used a ver}^ profane word. Lincoln heard it all, and 
he got down to Herndon, his partner, and he said 
"Bill}-, what have you got to say about it?" Well, 
Bill}- sa3'S, '■'Mr. Lincoln, if you make that speech, it 
will make 3'ou President of the United States." W'hat 
do you think Lincoln said? He said, "GentlemeUy 



23 
those sentiments in that speech are my sentiments, 
and I wonld make that speech thongh I knew I were 
to die for making it." Now, what was that speech? 
All of ns have read it. In snbstance it was this: "A 
divided honse cannot stand. This conntry will nlti- 
matelv be all free or all slave. I believe it will ])e all 
free. I do not believe there will be any war — I do not 
believe there will be any blood shed, but I do believe 
some method will be planned and worked out wherel^y 
freedom shall triumph in this great nation." Those 
were his sentiments. The countr}' was not prepared 
for it. Mr. Lincoln was beaten in that contest. We 
all have read of it; we all know it. Mr. Douglas was 
elected. If Mr. Lincoln had followed the advice of his 
well meaning friends, and left that out of his speech, 
he would never liave been the candidate of the Repub- 
lic;ui party for President of the United States. If he 
had then been elected Senator, he never would have 
been President of the United States. Don't you know 
sometimes I think that after all there is a Divin- 
itv that shapes our ways, "Rough hew them as we 
mav." It seems that so far as the character of Mr. Lin- 
coln is concerned, that when any great moral principle 
was at stake, that he was a perfect giant, and no power 
could move him. Don't vou know it was said in the 
time of the War that when Abe Lincoln put his foot 
down, that was the end of it. There was no use talk- 
ing or arguing with him. But I will pass on — 

In 1S60 when Mr. Lincoln made his great 
speech at the Cooper Institute in New York City, he 
was recognized as a candidate for the Presidency, and 
was nominated in iS6c) in Chicago. Now, it is 



24 

digressing a little, but I guess I will tell you about it. 
I happened to be in that Couvention, a uieniber of the 
third house. It was uot log rolling, the way they are 
in Sacramento now, seeing who will get the most mem- 
bers to vote for United States Senator. I went to the 
great big Wigwam. I got there at 8 o'clock in the 
morning. I was a young man in those days, and 
could get around pretty quick. I went up stairs — 
awa}' up stairs, and it was an immense building. I 
got up there, and the Convention w^as in front of me, 
and I was right in front of the Chairman of the Conven- 
tion. Well, to make a long stor}- short, the^- got to 
voting for candidates for the Presidency-. On the first 
ballot Mr. Seward, who was the recognized opponent of 
Mr. Lincoln, received 173 votes. Mr. Lincoln received 
10 1. On the next ballot Mr. Lincoln received 181 
votes, and Seward some ten or fifteen more than he 
received on the first ballot. On the third ballot one 
delegation changed over two votes to Mr. Lincoln and 
others followed suit. When the balloting was 

through, everybody had a list that they kept which 
was easily added up. It showed that the number to 
elect in the first place was 233 votes. Mr. Lincoln as 
we figured up, got 231^, and the whisped went around 
"Lincoln has got 2313^ votes." You cannot change a 
vote after the ballot has been announced in a Conven- 
tion, and it was as still as death, and out of the Ohio 
delegation, up jumped Mr. Carter — I think his name 
was D. K. — I had seen him in Ohio, he was a judge 
there, and he was a man that stuttered fearfully, but 
he alwa3'S stammered just at the right time — he never 
make a mistake in that regard in his life. He got up. 



25 

a great big red siiUM)tli faced man, and he said, "]\Ir. — 

Pres i dent I eh — cli — change four 

votes from Chase to Lincoln.." If ever bedhim broke 
loose on this earth, it broke loose then in that Conven- 
tion. Men jumped up on their chairs, the}- jumped on 
the tables, thev jumped on their seats, thev shouted 
and yelled and screamed, they took off their coats, and 
threw them in the air. Wh}', it was impossible to main- 
tain order, and while this was being done, somebodv 
brought on the stage the likeness of Mr. Lincoln. It 
was the first likeness I had ever seen of him. The 
Convention adjourned, and you all know the history of 
that Convention — the election of Air. Lincoln, and his 
journey to Washington. 

It seems to me that Abe Lincoln was placed 
upon this earth for the A-ery mission that he executed. 
Take him through the whole four vears of those tr}-- 
ing times. He carried the burden and responsibility 
of that terrible War, and he was equal to it, with all 
the trviuij scenes and all the trvimr times. W^hv, it 
was thought that Mr. Seward would be the power 
1)ehind the throne. Air. Chase, an egotistical, nble 
man, thought he ought to be the power, not only 
behind the throne, l)ut at the head of the throne, and 
evervwhere else. ThcA' ver\- soon learned that Mr. 
Lincoln was the President of the United States, and 
thev were not the President of the United States. 

As I said before, that although Air. Lincoln 
sometimes got angrv, he was a man possessed of a 
great deal of human nature. Evervbody found fault 
with. him. Horace Grcelev called him to account, and 
we heard the noise in tho.^^e davs "On to. Richmond — 



26 

on to Richmond," and ever}^ defeat was laid to Mr. 
Lincoln. 

There was a member of Congress from Illinois 
named Owen Lovejoy, and he was an anti-slaver\' man 
from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet. I 
remember when a boy reading the speeches of Lovejoy 
in Congress. He said to those slavery fellows, ''There 
is an nndergronnd railroad ; the principal depot is sit- 
uated at my house, and I tell you here that an}^ 
poor slave who shall get on that railroad that connects 
with ni}^ house will be taken care of; and I will bid 
him God-speed, and 3^ou can arrest me right here if 
3^ou like." And they said, "Mr. Lovejoy, the man 
never lived who would doubt your braver}'." Lovejoy 
wanted something, and he went to Abe Lincoln. He 
had to get it through the War Department, and Stan- 
ton was the Secretary of War, and he said, "Mr. 
Stanton, I want so-and-so done." Although Mr, Stan- 
ton was a great man — a great Secretary- of War — yet he 
was a man that had hardly a friend on earth. He was 
one of the most domineering men that ever breathed. 
Stanton says, "You cannot have it done." "Well," 
said Lovejoy, "I have got the order of President Lin- 
coln." Stanton looked at the order and said, "Lincoln 
is a fool," and prefaced it with a very bad word — you 
can imagine what it was. Lovejoy got mad, and he. 
went back to Lincoln and he said, "Mr. Lincoln, Stan- 
ton sa^'s 3'ou are a fool." Lincoln said, "Did he?" 
and he said, ''Yes, sir, and he repeated it. Mr. Presi- 
dent.'' "Well," says Abe, "Mr. Stanton understands 
wliat he is about, and he generally says what he 
thinks, and if he savs I am a fool, I I'uess I must be 



27 
one, and I will go over and have a talk with him. 

You know what his replay was after the battle of 
Fort Donaldson, and after the long, wear^- months of 
toil and defeats, and then came the first gleam of hope 
at that battle, and in three days General Grant took 
over 15,000 prisoners. There were some well-meaning 
people who went to Washington, and went to see the 
President, and they said, "Mr. President, we know 
that Mr. Grant won a great victory, but we are sorry 
to tell yon that when he fought that battle General 
Grant was drunk," and Lincoln said, "I reckon so; but 
I will tell you what: If y(ju will get me the brand of 
whiskv that Grant got drunk on -when he won that 
battle, I will order a car-load for the balance of the 
generals.'' 

Sometimes he got angry, I will tell you about 
it. At the time he first took office a delegation went to 
him from California. You know we are noted for hav- 
ing puritv politicians here — there are a few of them 
now at Sacramento. They went to Washington, and 
priding themselves upon their purity and their general 
reputation, were going to fight General Baker, who was 
a Senator from Oregon, for some of the Federal offices, 
and they started in very abruptly, and they said, "Gen- 
eral Baker out in our countr}' was a very immoral man, 
that his political life was open to c^uestion," and started 
on that stvle, and old Abe Lincoln's dander raised on 
the top of his head. He stamped his feet, and he 
said, "I want yon gentlemen to understand that Sena- 
tor Baker is my friend; and I want \'ou to understand 
that I will not permit you or anybody else to assail 
him in mv presence." Well, they very wisely con- 



28 

eluded they were not the President of the United States, 
and that Abe Lincoln was, and they were ver}' glad to 
apologize, and did apologize, so as to fix the matter np. 

Another instance was this: Mr. Julian was a mem- 
ber of Congress from Indiana. He had been a mem- 
ber of Congress for a long time. He was regularly 
nominated, and there was a man in his district who 
ran a country newspaper, and his name was Holloway, 
and Mr. Lincoln had appointed him Commissioner of 
Patents, and Julian was greatl}^ displeased, because he 
had been attacked by Holloway in his paper, and he 
said, "This fellow Holloway is doing all lie can to de- 
feat me in his paper." ]\Ir. Lincoln said, "Mr. Julian, 
Mr. Holloway is as much under obligations to support 
you as he is to sustain me, and I willl take care of 
Holloway; and if he don't quit that, off goes his head." 
Julian watched the newspaper, and it kept right on 
attacking him^ and he went and told Mr. Lincoln of it 
and Mr. Lincoln said, "That cannot be." Julian said 
"It is so, Mr. Lincoln." Mr. Lincoln rang the bell 
and a messenger came, and he said to that messenger, 
"You tell Holloway to come to me," and Holloway 
came; and when he left he concluded that Abraham 
Lincoln was the President of the United States, and 
that he, Holloway, was not. 

These things show you that while Mr. Lincoln pos- 
sessed great kindness of heart — possessed a great 
•power, and as great a man as he was, yet he would not 
be trifled with when the time came for action. 

Now, fellow-citizens, I cannot talk to you a great 
while longer, and I must hurry. There is one oration 
of his and 1 wo State papers to which I want to call 



29 

your attention — the oration at Gettysburg, liis second 
inaugural address and his Emancipation Proclamation. 
I want to read to you a part of that second inaugural 
address, because I think there is not the equal of it in 
the English language. I will read it to you. Said 
Mr. Lincoln in that address: 

"Fondl}' do we hope, fervently do we pray, 
that this mighty scourge of war may soon pass 
away. Yet if God wills that it continue until all 
the wealth piled up by the bondmen's two hun- 
dred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be 
sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn b}' the 
lash shall be paid with another draw with the 
sword ; as was said 3,000 years ago SC' still it must 
be said, the judgment of the Lord is true and 
righteous altogether. 

"With malice toward none, with charity' for 
all, with firmness in the right, as God gives us to 
see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we 
are in, to ])ind up the Nation's wounds, to care for 
him who shall have borne the battle, and for his 
widow and orphans, to do all which may achieve 
and cherish a just and lasting peace among our- 
selves and with all nations." 

I do not know what 3'ou maj^ think about it. I 
think that hmguage is sublime. I do not think you 
will find anything in Pericles, Demosthenes, Cicero or 
in the orations of Daniel Webster that will surpass it. 
A great man at the head of a great nation, raised up 
through adversity and obscurit}' to govern 60,000,000 
of people, and in his last inaugural address to have 
given utterance to tliose words, I think that he was 
almost more than human. 

I will not keep 3'ou a great wliilc longer. I 



30 
want to sa}' to 3-011 this: do you remember what Mrs. 
Hemaiis said about the landing of the Pilgrims in 
1620? 

" Not as the conqueror comes, 

They, the true-hearted come ; 
Not with the roll of the stirring drums, 
And the trumpet that sings of fame. 

Not as the flying come. 

In silence and in fear ; 
The}' shook the depths of the desert gloom 

With their hymns of lofty cheer. 

Amidst the storm they sang, 

And the stars heard, and the sea; 

And the sounding isles of the dim woods rang, 
To the anthem of the free." 

Two hundred and forty-one years had passed, 
and in 1861, from Cape Mendocino on the Pacific 
Ocean, away across the continent to the shores of 
Maine, and to the rock upon which the Pilgrims had 
landed, there was settled in this vast domain 20,000,000 
of people, the descendants of that band of heroes that 
landed in 1620. Don't you remember the songs they 
sang in 1861 ? Do 3'ou not remember that song that 
was sung in one grand anthem by 20,000,000 of free- 
men, descendants of the Pilgrim Fathers in that vast 
empire, when Abraham Lincoln called for 300,000 
volunteers to defend the integrity of that flag^the 
cIk^-us of which was: 

" We are coming, Father Abraham, 
Three hundred thousand strong, 
We are coming from the hillside. 
We are coming from the glen; 
We are coming. Father Abraham, 
Three hundred thousand men." 



31 
Don't 3'ou remember it, Mr. Me^^ers ? Don't 
you remember it, Mr. dishing ? Don't 3'ou remember 
the songs that were sung in those days b}^ the colored 
race with a melod}^ that no race on earth has been able 
to equal ? Don't 3'ou remember one of them was 
something like this : 

" Saj^ darkies, hab you seen de massa, 
Wid de miiffstash on his face, 
Go long de road some time dis mornin', 
Like he is gwine to leab de place ? 

He seen de smoke way up de ribber, 
Whar de Lin-kum gun-boats lay ; 

He took his hat, an' lef ber-ry sud-den, 
An' I spec he's ranud awa}-. 

De ober-seer he make us trouble. 

An' he dribe us round a spell ; 
We lock him up in de smoke-house cellar, 

Wid key thrown in, the well. 

De whip is lost, de han-cuff broken. 

But ole massa'll hab his pay ; 
He's ole enough, big enough, ought to k'.iow bettah, 

Den to went '-an' run away. 

De massa run, ha, ha, 

De darkies stay, ho, ho ; 
It must be now de kingdom 's comin', 

An' de year ob jubilo. " 

I recollect that. Is it any wonder that in those 
days the colored race, upon their bended knees, used 
to pray God to "Bress Abraham Lincoln and the gun- 
boats"? I do not think it is. 

Before I close I want to say a word to the young 
men, if you will listen. Study the life of Abraham 
Lincoln. Study it from the day" of his birth and his 



32 

obsciirit}' and his povert3% and study it with the idea 
and determination to learn something from it that will 
be a profit and a benefit to 3'ou, and those of \'ou who 
are seeking to make statesmen and orators of your- 
selves — and it is a noble ambition — go not back to 
ancient Greece to study the orations of the greatest ex- 
temporaneous orator of ancient times — Demosthenes 
— go not back to ancient Rome to study the orations 
of that peerless of all ancient orators, Marcus Tullius 
Cicero, but go to the battle-field of Gettysburg, and 
there beneath the monument reared to perpetuate the 
names of the men who fell in that three da^'s' awful 
conflict to preserve the integrity of that flag, and study 
the oration of Abraham Lincoln delivered at the laying 
of the corner-stone of that monument, and you will 
then have studied the finest piece of orator}- that was 
ever uttered by mortal man. 

Now, fellow-citizens, 3-ou have listened patiently 
to me, and I must bring this address to a close. We 
stand to-night upon the topmost round of the ladder of 
the nineteenth century' — upon the ver\- threshold of 
the twentieth centur}-. We are not permitted to look 
into the next hundred 3'ears, and see who shall be the 
great ones of this earth, but the past is an open book. 
Let us turn and glance down the ladder of the nine- 
teenth centur}', and what do we behold ? At the com- 
mencement of this centur}' Robert Fulton had not run 
his little steamboat upon the North River. A railroad 
car had never been even imagined. The wildest 
dreams of a fanatic had never imagiued such a 
thing as a telegraph or a telephone. Come up that 
ladder sixt3'-three 3'ears and stand upon the sixtv-third 



33 

round of the ladder, and what do you behold ? You 
behold a might}- nation involved in a gigantic civil • 
war — two thousand bloody battles have been fought, a 
million of men are under arms, and amidst the roar of 
cannon, the clash of arms, the shock of battle, the 
groans of the dying, the wails of the vanquished and 
the shouts of the victors — over and above all, there 
stands a man, serious, tall and ungainly, and he is 
writing in the book of time. Would you like to 
know what he is writing ? I will just read it to you. 
It is here : 

"Now, therefore, by virtue of the power 
in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army 
and Navy of the United States in time of actual 
armed rebellion against the authority and govern- 
ment of the United States, and as a fit and neces- 
sar}' war measure for suppressing said rebellion, 
I do on this the ist day of Januar}-, 1863, ordain 
and declare that all persons held as slaves within 
the said designated states and parts of states, are 
and henceforward shall be free, and that the Execu- 
tive Government of the United States, including the 
military and naval authorities thereof will recognize 
and maintain the freedom of said persons." 

Who is he that records those immortal words? 
I will tell \^ou. He is the young man who drove the 
two yoke of oxen in 1830 from the State of Indiana 
to the State of Illinois. He is the disconsolate lawyer 
who came downstairs and said to Speed, "Iv'e moved." 
He is the legislator who in 1837 had the moral coti rage 
and power to put himself upon the records of the Gen- 
eral i\ssembly of the State of Illinois as saying that 
slavery was unjtist and bad policy, and he is now the 



34 
President of the United States and the Commander-in- 
Chief of the grandest ami}- and navy in the world, 
and his name is Abraham Lincoln. And now so long 
as the great waves of the ocean of time shall wash and 
beat and snrge and dash and break upon the shores of 
eternity, nia}- God forever continue to bless the United 
States of America, and the name and fame of Abraham 
Lincoln. 

Flag of the free heart's hope and home, 

By angel hands to valor given, 
Tlvy stars have lit the welcome dome, 

And all thy hues were born in Heaven. 
Forever float that standard sheet ! 

Where breathes the foe, but tails before us 
With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, 

And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us. 

(Prolonged applause.) 



COMPLIMENTS OF 

REGISTER U. S, LAND OFFICE 
SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 



^ ***************************************** 

I % 

I ADDRESS % 

* t 

* DELIVERED BY THE t 



!?■ 



t i-ToiV. A. B. HUNT I 

I OIM THE * 

I I 

I LIFE AND TIMES | 

^ ^» OF J^^ t 



I ABRAHAM LINCOLN I 

•g €■ 

« ■ ■ » 

•J! ; =» 

^ AT THE ^ 

^ 4- 

•& «• 

I FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH % 

I OF AL>^M£:D>4. I 

4 . * 

•is * 

•& * 

4< «• 

J SUNDAY EVE.. FEB. 12. 1899 f 

•& ' * 

•^ * 

•^ * 

^ ;t being the 89th anniversary of the ^ 

^ . ^ 

f BIRTH OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN |[ 

^ -' ^ 

•^ 'f 

ij^ 1^ 4f «|i l|< l)i ifi <{» 1^ 4. J|i i|i <)|;> .^ 1^ if 1)4 <fl l!|i ifl <|i 1^ «|4 1^ (f^ 



Tro^ramme of E2^erci£e£ 



SALUTATORY 



Travip, Tramp the Boys are Maichijig 
Bv THE Choir 

Mr. n. S. Stedman. Musical Director 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 

Rev. W. H. Scott 

Retired Chaplin U. S. Army 



PRAYER 



Rev. \V. W. Scuddek, Jk. 



SONG 



Battle Hymn of the Republic 
Kv THE Choir 

Aiulience joiiiiiifc in the Chorus 



ADDRESS 



Life and Times 0/ Abraham Lincoln 
A. B. Hunt 



SQLO 



The Star Spangled Banner 
Mks. Fj.eisciiner Lewis 

AiuHoiicc joining in the Chorus 



